Easily generate Project style calendar plans, just by entering the tasks and associated data like it's name and the starting and end date. Use different colors and select a deadline terminator for each task. Indent each task to its level or sub-level. Change, save and email the resulting calendar as any other regular Microsoft® Excel file. The SIMPLEST edition, just ONE button to use!

Specializing in Advanced Spreadsheet & Office Macro Solutions.

Tested on Microsoft® Office® General Versions: 2003 (11.0) - should work on any Windows version from 2000

Macros are software applications that run inside other applications, like Office packages. While some very sophisticated macros are real pieces of Software, demanding professional developers, ANYONE can create their own automation macros in any of the Microsoft® Office applications.

Macros are software applications that run inside other
applications, like Office packages. In fact, many commercial
software's now include some form of end-user programming to allow
for customization and automations of common tasks. Microsoft's VBA
(Visual Basic for Applications) is the macro language bundled into
Office and currently licensed to many other software makers.

Macros exist for all current Office applications, but only the
most recent versions of Outlook (from 2000) support them (previous
version have a different programming model). This article will
use EXCEL for illustrations purposes, but in general its
concepts will apply to all Microsoft® Office Applications.

Setting Macro Security

Macros are potentially dangerous. Since they are
software and run by the PC user, they can do almost anything on the
computer they're running, including erasing the hard drive and other
forms of damage. And since they are imbedded in office applications,
they can be mailed as regular office files. In fact, one of the
first virus to use email to spread was the
Melissa Virus, a Word Macro! Of course, back in 1999, email
virus were just starting and nobody expected them, so email was
considered safe and no defenses were in place.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have trouble running macros when
following this article, please refer to the article above and adjust
your security settings before proceeding.

Automation and Coded Macros

There are basically two types of macros, even if the system
itself won’t make a difference between them. The difference is,
really, in the usefulness and extent of the macro:

Automation macros are macros that automate a
set of manual operations – allowing users to avoid having to
manually repeat an operation. These macros are usually not coded
but recorded, using the Macro Recorder.

Coded macros are macros that are written by
software developers and that, in reality, are peaces of software
that run (and require) a hosting application to run – Like
Excel.

For an example of a Coded macro, that is too complex to be
generated by recording an example, click here to download the demo
of our Calendar Plan Generator macro.

This article is about generating Automation macros, the ones that
ANY user can create, even if they don’t write a single line of
software!

Generating your own automation Macros

To generate a Macro, first you need an operation to be performed.
As an example, lets generate a macro that:

Applies a light border to the all selected cells

Applies a heavier border to the outline (outer border)
of the selected cell

PIC 1 – Macro effect on Excel cells

To record a macro that performs this operation, you only need to
do it yourself while having the Macro Recorder activated (to record
your operations):

1) Select a cell area (you have to do it before you start
recording, otherwise your selection will be saved on the macro
and will always be repeated – not very useful, you want the
macro to apply to any cell selection)

2) On the Tools menu, select Macro and “Record New Macro”:

Give the Macro a meaningful name (related do
function) like “Grid Maker”

Assign a Shortcut Key so that the macro can be
invoked later from the keyboard (lets use M)

Leave the Store Macro In option in its default
setting: In this Workbook

Add a description for future reference

Click OK

3) Perform the desired operations. In this case:

Apply a light border to all selected cells

Apply a heavier border to the outline

4) Click on the stop button of the macro recorder toolbar (PIC):

You now have a macro that will apply the border to ANY cell
selection.

Running the Macro

In case you haven’t performed the steps above, just use our ready
to use demo:

If you know VBA (or Visual Basic, VBScript or any
other related language) you may want to manually edit
the macro. Or you may just be curious about what was exactly
recorded by the macro. To open the macro editor, press
ALT+F11 on your keyboard. You will enter the Macro
Editor:

PIC 6: Macro (VBA) Editor (Click to
Enlarge).

Recorder Macros usually reside on Module1, on the
Modules section. One useful manual addition to your
code (that cannot be done with the recorder) is adding a message box
to indicate the macro has finished. Add a line to the end of your
macro code (before the “End Sub”) with

MSGBOX “The macro nnnnn has finished”, vbOKOnly, “MY
MACRO TITLE”

Where nnnnn is the name of your macro. The general format for
this command is:

You may experiment with changing the code. To avoid
destroying it, you may save the original macro, create a
copy and edit the copy. If you end up with an unusable macro,
you may just delete the copy and make a new one from the original
macro.

Saving the Macros for future use

Macros are usually saved with the file where they were recorded.
This mean they will also be available on that file, regardless of
the computer used to open it. So, if you email the file to a friend,
the macro will be there.

To save the macro with the file, just save the file with the Save
command. It will be saved with your data and all other file contents
(Charts, formats, etc).

Saving the macro as a AddIn: For use in multiple files

This option may not be available for all Microsoft Office
applications, but is available in Excel. You may save your macro as
a AddIn that its loaded with Excel every time it starts. This
way, if the macro is generic and can be useful in many files, it
will always be available regardless of the file currently being
edited.

The drawback is that in this format, the macro behaved as an Excel
extension on that computer and, therefore, will not be available on
other computers (unless specifically installed on them) and will not
travel with the data files (if you email a file to a friend, the
macro will not be there for him because it is installed on your PC,
not the data file).

To save it as an AddIn, do this:

1) Select Save As on the File menu

2) On the “Save as Type” box select “Microsoft Excel Add-In (*.xla)”

3) On the most recent versions of Excel, you will be automatically
positioned on the AddIns folder. On versions prior to 2000, you need
to find the AddIns folder yourself

4) Give it a name and save it

From now on, your addin will load with Excel and the macro will be
available every time you run Excel, but only on the PC where it has
been saved.

To install it on other computers, just mail them the original Excel
macro file and repeat the steps above on each one.

Try the FREE Demo

In case you haven’t performed the steps above, you
may still experiment the usefulness of macros. Just use our ready to
use demo:

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The easiest way to create design charts. Check the samples, enter your own data and watch as your charts update. Multiple different charts from the same data, with many automatic calculations made for you. No code, macros, formulas or other complicated stuff. Just fill in YOUR data and watch the charts update automatically.

Automatically update hundreds of Microsoft PowerPoint® slides, charts and tables from Excel in minutes. With the click on a button. Easily configure the updates you need. Copy from multiple Excel files. Resize and place pasted charts & tables – or just keep their original size & position.

Easily generate annual and monthly Traditional & Planning calendars you can print and distribute, based only in Microsoft® Excel®. Five different formats available. Use special colors for special days or events, like holidays or meetings. Automatic event legend. Configurable background and font colors. Optional calendar background image. Traditional, Academic and Fiscal years. Imports data from Microsoft ® Outlook®.

Generate ADVANCED Project style calendar plans, just by entering the tasks and associated data like its name and the starting and end date. Use different colors and select a deadline terminator for each task. Indent each task to its level or sub-level. Change, save and email the resulting calendar as any other regular Microsoft® Excel® file. Includes ADVANCED features like EXTRA plan types, detail filtering, optional fields, extra information of task bars, full customization and Microsoft® Outlook® integration.

Generate Project style calendar plans (weekly only), just by entering the tasks and associated data like it's name and the starting and end date. Use different colors and select a deadline terminator for each task. Indent each task to its level or sub-level. Change, save and email the resulting calendar as any other regular Microsoft® Excel file. SOURCE CODE available for changes for VBA Macro developers.

Easily generate Project style calendar plans, just by entering the tasks and associated data like it's name and the starting and end date. Use different colors and select a deadline terminator for each task. Indent each task to its level or sub-level. Change, save and email the resulting calendar as any other regular Microsoft® Excel file. The SIMPLEST edition, just ONE button to use!

Create pretty yearlong planning calendars in minutes. Save time and effort. Ready to use calendar template! Really useful to set yearlong event like general meetings, special groups, holidays and all other long-term schedules. Regular Excel file, sample included.

Calculates the average waiting times and people (or item) processing times based on some input estimates. Can be used to make service capacity simulations or to measure the service throughput on any service or process demanding waiting queues.